Data-processing system for determining gains and losses from bets

ABSTRACT

In an establishment in which wagers are placed on the outcome of a fortuitous event, such as the roll of a pair of dice, the spin of a roulette wheel, the result of a horse race, or the like, a player operates a remote selector panel on which a register displays a previously established credit balance. Bets on the event are made from the panel by wagering any amount up to the limit of the credit balance. The amount wagered is automatically deducted from the credit balance, and in the event of a win the amount wagered is multiplied by a predetermined odds factor for the event and added to the credit balance.

United States Patent Levy 1*Sept. 30, 1975 [54] DATA-PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR [56] References Cited DETERMINING GAINS AND LOSSES FROM UNITED STATES PATENTS BETS 3,124,674 3/1964 Edwards et al. 273/138 ux Inventor: David Levy, 230 W. 54th St., New

York, NY. 10003 Notice: The portion of the term of this patent subsequent to May 14, 1991, has been disclaimed.

Filed: Mar. 4, 1974 Appl. No.: 447,782

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 25,227, April 2, 1970. Pat. No. 3,810,627, and a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 699,509, Jan. 22, 1968. abandoned.

US. Cl 273/138 A Int. Cl. A63B 71/06 Field of Search 235/92 GA, 92 TA, 92 TS, 235/92 TP; 340/323, 334, 337, 172.5;

273/138 A, 143 R, 143 A, 143 B, 143 C, 143 D. 143 E, 118 A, 119 A, 120 A, 121 A, 122 A, 123 A, 124 A, 125 A Primary E.\'aminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant E.\'aminerArnold W. Kramer Attorney, Agent, or Firn1Karl F. Ross; Herbert Dubno 5 7 ABSTRACT In an establishment in which wagers are placed on the outcome of a fortuitous event, such as the roll of a pair of dice, the spin of a roulette wheel, the result of a horse race, or the like, a player operates a remote selector panel on which a register displays a previously established credit balance. Bets on the event are made from the panel by wagering any amount up to the limit of the credit balance. The amount wagered is automatically deducted from the credit balance, and in the event of a win the amount wagered is multiplied by a predetermined odds factor for the event and added to the credit balance,

10 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures US, Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet20fl7 3,909,002

US. Patent Sept. 30,1975 Sheet3 of 17 3,909,002

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US. Patent 1 fun-'2 WORK AREA HORSE S E L E C TIONS Sept. 30,1975

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SECOND- EXAM/NE 4 cmz SLOT i FROM LEFT CTR 2 IN WRKAREA Z DATA-PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING GAINS AND LOSSES FROM BETS This application is a division of my application Ser. No. 25,227, now US. Pat. No. 3,810,627, filed 2 April 1970 as a continuation-in-part of my prior application Ser. No. 699,509 filed 22 Jan. 1968 and now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a data-processing system for placing wagers from a remote location on the outcome of a fortuitous event, such as the rolling of dice, the spinning of a roulette wheel, or the outcome of a horse race, in which means are provided to automatically calculate the results of the wager based on the outcome of the event.

In conventional gambling casinos, the players usually crowd around the dealer, croupier or banker at a location such as a dice, roulette or card table which shall be referred to hereinafter as a bankers station. The number of participants in any such game of chance is thus limited by the physical dimensions of the table and the room in which it stands. Also, in a game in which the players may place bets subject to widely differing odds, the presence of a large number of participants complicates the proceedings and may give rise to errors in paying off the winners.

Wagers on the outcome of horse races are placed at parimutuel windows at race tracks. Prior to each race the player stands on line at the appropriate sellers window at which tickets for specified denominations of money and selected positions are sold for each race. Thus to place a bet on a horse to win, the player must stand on the $10 win line, and to make a different bet as to amount and/or or position the player must then go to the end of a different line. If the player is successful in his wager he must eventually return to a different cashiers window to collect his winnings. Each cashier only pays off for a specified amount and finishing position so that a player successful on more than one bet on a given race must stand at a corresponding number of cashiers windows at the end of that race.

Tickets for wagers on a race are usually sold only after the previous race on the track program has been completed and prior to the running of the race on which the wagers are to be made. Except for some tracks where wagers may be made in advance on the last two races of the days program, betting tickets may not be purchased for any race on the program other than the immediately succeeding race with the exception of certain special races, such as Exacta or Quinella, in which the wagering is usually opened two races prior to the special race. As a result the player is required to stand on what is often a long line to place his bets on a race, and must repeat this process for each race on which he wishes to place his wager. If the player wishes to place wagers of different denominations on different horses in a single race, or make a win wager on one horse or a place and/or show wager on that horse or another horse running in that race, he must stand on a number of lines all before the race begins and the taking of wagers is terminated.

The need for repeatedly standing on long lines is an annoying and often frustrating experience for many players and needlessly diminishes some of the pleasures to be obtained at the track, and in fact may occasionally discourage some less dedicated players from placing a wager on a race. The sophisticated player usually prefers to wait until the last possible moment to place his wager, as this additional time gives him the opportunity of noticing any changes in odds (which occur continually until the betting is closed), and allows the player to view the horses as they enter the track. Thus as the time for the closing of bets nears, the waiting lines at the betting windows often grow longer and many players are often unable to reach the window in time to place their wagers. Moreover, the sellers at the ticket windows often rush to complete the taking of wagers before the start of the next race. This need for haste may cause human error resulting in the possible loss of revenue to the track, or in the issuing of an incorrect ticket to the great annoyance and inconvenience to the player and an adverse effect on the management of the track. Moreover, a player, particularly one who has had a successful day at the track, often carries large sums of money to and from the track each day that he frequents the track. This presents the possibility of loss or theft of the players funds and thus further reduces the pleasureful aspects of his attendance of the event.

It is, therefore, the general object of the present invention to provide an improved wagering system as well as a method of operating same, in which the aforestated disadvantages of the known wagering operations are avoided by an automatic wagering-payoff and credit-balance registration.

It is another object of this invention to provide a wagering system and method allowing for the participation of any number of players at locations remote from the site of an event on whose outcome wagers are to be placed.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a wagering system of the type described in which the need for the player to carry large sums of money to and from the event is significantly reduced, thereby de creasing the chances of loss or theft of those funds.

It is a further object of the present invention to pro vide a wagering system allowing for increased facility and enjoyment for the player in making a wager, and a reduction in the possibility of error in calculating payoff on the wager.

These objects are realized, pursuant to my invention, by the provision of a selector panel or board individually assigned to each player or groups of players and enabling the player or players to place bets on the outcome of any fortuitous and recurrent event then in progress, such as the aforedescribed gambling operations. An open phase of operation is initially established during which bets may be placed, followed by a closed phase during which a bet just made or left standing is locked up while the event takes its course. The amount of the wager is initially subtracted from the players previously established credit balance. After the event has taken place, the outcome is signaled to all the panels for automatic determination of the amounts won by the winning players which are then added to their respective balances.

In order to qualify for the placement of a bet, a player must first establish a credit balance on a display register disposed on or next to his selector panel, this register being inaccessible to the player (except, possibly, for the purpose of increasing his balance) during the subsequent phases of operation in which the amount dis played is augmented as a result of a winning wager. To register the initial credit balance, the prospective player may make a payment to a banker or to a teller who thereafter presets the register, e.g. by the use of a tool or key or with the aid of a control panel at his station or by communicating the amount of the initial payment to a computer memory. In accordance with a more particular feature of my invention, however, I prefer to allow each player to register his own initial credit balance by purchasing from the banker a token representing a predetermined cash value, this token being then irretrievably inserted into a slot associated with the register. It should be understood in this connection that the term token is to be broadly construed as including not only coin-like disks to be received by a collection box but also special keys and identification credit cards and similar implements which, once inserted and used to set the register, cannot be withdrawn for re-use except by an authorized person; in principle, real coins could also be used. The player, having bought one or more of these tokens, may invest them all at once or may save some of them for later insertion to restore a depleted balance. In any event, the arithmetic unit of each panel will not accept a bet exceeding the available credit balance and, advantageously, will turn on a light or other alarm signal whenever a player attempts to overdraw. If the players credit balance is sufficient the amount of the wager is reduced immediately upon the registering of the wager.

During the open phase, which may be indicated by a signal lamp on the panel switched on by the banker, the player may operate his selectors to choose both the amount of his stake and the outcome on which he places his wager; if desired, he may annul his selection by pressing a cancellation button. In the closed phase, also indicated by a banker-controlled signal such as a sign reading no more bets, the selector position is locked up and cancellation of the bet is inhibited so that the wager previously made cannot be altered until the win or loss has been determined. In certain instances, such as a line bet in a dice game, the outcome at a particular stage may be indecisive and may require the bet to be held over for one or more cycles of operation until a decision occurs; in this case, the selection remains frozen even during subsequent open phases until the arithmetic unit registers either a win or a loss.

To register a win, an add channel is enabled by the arithmetic unit or computer which should also include a multiplier to take into account the odds governing the selected bet. Thus, if the panel offers a choice between a variety of bets at different odds, a signal may be sent to the multiplier stage of the computer to indicate the odds factor whenever a particular selector is actuated. This odds factor, of course, has no influence upon the substract channel and the overdraft indicator. The cumulative value of all the bets simultaneously placed may be shown on a separate register for visual comparison with the available credit balance.

In a resort hotel featuring a casino, the panels may be located in the several hotel rooms in combination with closedcircuit television to give each player a direct view of the roulette wheel, dice table or other gambling facility used in the establishment. Such a player, of course, will not directly participate in the game but will place his bets on the outcome of an operation performed by the croupier or by some other player at the bankers station.

According to another aspect of the invention a system is provided for placing wagers on the outcome of a horse race or the like from a betting panel conveniently located at the track. The system comprises a plurality of betting panels tied into the main track computcr. The latter computer is of the type commonly provided at race tracks for the purpose of calculating the odds based on the amount of money wagered.

Each betting panel is used at the track by an individual player or players. The player opens an account by depositing an amount of money at a special tellers window provided at the track. The teller transmits this information to a control computer to identify the new player and the amount deposited. That amount is stored and is reflected as the initial credit balance at the panel assigned to that player. i

A player may place a bet on the outcome of a race by operating the appropriate members onv the panel to transmit the wager data to the control computer, which in turn transmits them to the track computer. The placing of a bet of a selected amount reduces the players credit balance. When the results of the race have become official, the track computer transmits the pay-off data (ie the return on a unit wager multiplied by the odds factor) to credit the account of a successful player by an amount corresponding to the winnings, and transmitsthe pay-off information to the appropriate panel.

Many race tracks allow the placing of bets on certain combinations of races in which there is the possibility of winning larger amounts of money on a wager. These combinations include the Daily Double, Big Exacta, and Twin Double. The Exacta and Quinella are special races which may be provided by the track to provide the player with the opportunity for achieving a large payoff. The panel and control computer of the invention contain suitable operating members and logic circuitry to permit the making of such wagers from the panel. According to another aspect of the horse-race betting system of this invention, the bettor may at his choice select all permutations and/or combinations of a given number of horses in an Exacta or Quinella wager by a so-called boxing technique by actuating suitable members of the panel, the actual permutations or combinations being calculated and determined by suitable circuitry or a computer program.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a players selector panel as used in an automated dice game embodying features of my invention; 0

FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram of an associated bankers station;

FIGS. 3A and 3B, when vertically juxtaposed, show elements of the panel of FIG. 1 together with associated logic circuitry;

FIG. 4 is a partly diagrammatic cross-sectional view of a roulette wheel and associated circuitry forming part of another system in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the layout of a selector panel and associated circuitry co-operating with the arrangement of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an automatic horse-race wagering system according to a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is an elevation view of a betting panel for use in the system of FIG. 6; 

1. A data-processing system for determining gains and losses from bets on a fortuitous event, comprising: a player''s station remote from the site of said event; first selector means at said player''s station operable by a player to indicate an amount wagered on the outcome thereof; second selector means at said player''s station operable by the player to choose one of several types of wagers; register means at said player''s station inaccessible to the player following operation thereof to display an initial credit balance, said register means being responsive to said first selector means for deducting the wagered amount from said balance; calculating means coupled to said second selector means for determining an odds factor from the chosen type of wager; arithmetic means coupled to said register means and to said calculating means, said arithmetic means being actuatable under the control of said first selector means, upon an outcome of said event in conformity with the wager, for additively introducing into said register means said wagered amount multiplied by said odds factor to increase the existing credit balance; a control station at the site of said event; actuating means for said arithmetic means at said control station; and transmission means linking said actuating means to said arithmetic means.
 2. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said player''s station is one of a plurality of such stations each provided with individual arithmetic means, said transmission means being common to the arithmetic means of all player''s stations.
 3. A system as defined in claim 2 wherein said arithmetic means form part of a computer common to all player''s stations.
 4. A system as defined in claim 1 wherein said player''s station comprises a panel carrying said first and second selector means and said register means.
 5. A system as defined in claim 4 wherein said calculating and arithmetic means are located at said player''s station.
 6. A system as defined in claim 4, further comprising a closed-circuit television channel linking said player''s station with the site of said event, said television channel including an observation screen disposed adjacent said panel.
 7. A system aS defined in claim 4 wherein the site of the event is a race track, said calculating means comprising a track computer, said panel being provided with player-operable signaling means responsive to said first and second selector means and connected to said tract computer for supplying odds-determining data thereto.
 8. A system ad defined in claim 7 wherein said first and second selector means are coupled to said signaling means for finalizing a selection upon the transmission of said odds-determining data to said track computer.
 9. A system as defined in claim 7 wherein said player''s station is one of a plurality of such stations, said track computer being common to all said player''s stations.
 10. A system as defined in claim 9 wherein the arithmetic means of all said player''s stations form part of another computer common to all said player''s stations and connected to said track computer. 